Abstract: The ludic activities of sixteenth-century Parisian proto-salon society may be seen in the entertainment practices of prominent circles hosted by members of the noblesse de robe, the class of nobles who held state offices usually concerned with legal affairs. The circles of interest are those of the Morels, whose group was largely concerned with traditional humanist learning, and the Villeroys, whose group was more focused on poetry in the vernacular. Each, however, develops its own signature style of entertainments with modes of play that include poetry contests, group authorship, and performance and leaves fascinating records that attest to them. Huizinga's notion of social-agonistic poetry composed by men and women in a spirit of badinage is strikingly on display.

Keywords: Estienne Pasquier, Antoinette de Loynes, Jean de Morel, Madeleine de l’Aubespine, Nicolas de Neufville, noblesse de robe

Sixteenth-Century Proto-Salon Entertainments

Italian academic and proto-salon-style sociability, with its dual interests in classical humanist pursuits and Italianate literature and games, arose in Lyon and Poitiers, as demonstrated in the cases of the Pierrevive-Gondi and the Dame des Roches, as well as in Paris and other French cities where the influences of Italy were felt. The entertainment practices associated with such sociability were popularized by transplanted Italian bankers and merchants along with members of the French court, with its large population of Franco-Italian nobles and royals and its traveling legal representatives, such as Pasquier. Two prominent early Parisian proto-salons associated with members of the noblesse de robe, the class of nobles who held state offices usually concerned with legal affairs, are that of Jean de Morel, sieur de Grigny, and his wife Antoinette de Loynes and that of Nicolas de Neufville, seigneur de Villeroy, and his wife Madeleine de l’Aubespine.